


Didn't Run too Far

by LinSpinner



Category: The Good Doctor (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-17
Updated: 2018-03-29
Packaged: 2019-03-05 22:41:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13397793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LinSpinner/pseuds/LinSpinner
Summary: One of my imaginings of what happened after episode 10/midseason break





	1. Chapter 1

Shaun tore around his apartment, throwing things into a suitcase. A handful of socks, a few books, his cell phone charger, toothbrush. It was easier to throw all the shirts in rather than to pick and choose. All he was thinking was that he wanted to get out as soon as possible, knowing that Dr. Glassman was bound to come looking for him. Then he left, backpack on his back, suitcase in hand, locking the door behind him.

When he made it to the main door of the building, it was clear that Shaun had no plans for where to go. It was so much easier when he had his brother. Instead, Shaun set down the suitcase and began pacing back and forth just inside the door, trying to think.

After a few minutes, Lea came in. She paused and watched her neighbor pacing. "Hey, what's up?" she said.

Without breaking his pacing, Shaun said, "I need to find a place to stay but I don't know where to go."

"Is something wrong in your apartment? I knew some of that plumbing looked sketchy."

"No the plumbing is fine. I need to find a place to hide from Dr. Glassman."

Lea raised an eyebrow. "Um, okay. And Dr. Glassman is looking for you because…?"

"I hit him." Shaun stopped pacing and stood, looking at some point over Lea's shoulder.

"You hit him? So did he call the cops or something?"

"No, he wouldn't do that. And he knows that it was his fault that he made me mad."

"So you're just trying to avoid him for a while, I guess?"

Shaun nodded.

"Well, why don't you just stay with me? There's plenty of room if you don't mind the couch."

Shawn shrugged. It was better than anything he could think of. And besides, Lea was nice. She didn't treat him as though he were different. "Okay," he finally said after a moment's hesitation.

"Great! Sometimes it gets so boring around here that I could use the company."

So, picking up the suitcase, Shaun followed Lea back the way he had just came, except stopping when they reached her apartment. She unlocked the door and ushered Shaun inside before she closed the door behind them.

Lea's apartment had sparse furniture. A bed and dresser were shoved in one corner and mostly hidden behind a couple of folding partitions. A door near it led through to the bathroom. The kitchen was on the other side, with a table against the wall with a few chairs around it. In between, filling the middle space, was a shelf with a small TV and a sofa and old armchair facing towards it with a beat up coffee table in the middle. 

After taking off her coat, Lea turned on a ceiling light over the kitchen and a lamp by the sofa. "Just put your stuff anywhere where it's not in the way. I'm gonna change out of my work clothes-" She gestured to the crisp yet drab pants and blouse she was wearing. "-and then we can just hang out, I guess. Unless you've got something you want to do?"

Shaun shook his head.

"Great." And Lea disappeared behind the partitions and then into the bathroom.

Shaun gingerly sat down on the edge of the sofa and looked around the apartment, waiting for Lea to come back. After a few minutes, she reappeared, now clad in sweatpants and a t-shirt with come colorful, unidentifiable logo on it. "Good, you're making yourself comfortable. I remembered that I forgot to check my mail. I'll be right back."

Lea crossed the apartment and left, closing the door with a click behind her. Getting her mail was uneventful, but as she returned down the hall to her apartment, she saw a couple people entering Shaun's apartment at the end of the hall. She missed the first, but got a good glimpse of the second.

As she reentered her apartment, she closed the door and told Shaun, "Hey, there were a couple guys going in your apartment."

"What did they look like?" asked Shaun.

"One of them was balding and slightly older that middle aged. He sort of looked like my father. I didn't see the other one, sorry."

"That would be Dr. Glassman. He has a key to my apartment. He's probably looking for me."

"Why don't you go talk to him?"

No, that would defeat the point of leaving, and why I am in your apartment."

Lea just shrugged in reply. After a moment, she said, "I don't know about you, but I'm hungry." She went to the kitchen and dug around in the freezer for a bit. "I'm not in the mood to cook, and if I had to venture a guess, I'd say you aren't either. I've got frozen pizza-" She paused and shifted the pizza box around. "-or chicken and French fries, I guess."

"Both of them are almost equally unhealthy," Shaun called from where he still sat on the sofa.

"I guess I get to pick, then." Choosing the pizza, Lea preheated the oven and stuck the pizza on the rack. Then she flopped down on the sofa next to Shaun. Leaning back she said, "So, what do you want to do tonight?"

Shaun didn't reply right away. Finally he said slowly, "Probably read a book. Or a medical journal. I found an interesting article about tendons and haven't had time to read it yet."

"I think I'll just watch TV or something. I need a distraction. Real life is just too much at times, you know?"

Twenty minutes later, in the middle of eating pizza, someone pounded on Lea's door. Grumbling about cold pizza, she got up to open it. When she opened the door to her apartment, she let out one of the loudest sighs that Shaun had ever heard.

"What is it, Brandon? And I thought that I told you never to come here. Or were you drunk that day and that's why you forgot?" Lea paused, and a moment of silence followed.

Shaun leaned to one side from where he was sitting at Lea's kitchen table to see around her and out the door. He caught a glimpse of a guy wearing faded jeans, a sweatshirt, and a baseball cap.

"Lea, just hear me out for a momen-" His words were slightly slurred.

"No, I don't think so, Brandon. I gave you more chances than you deserved. What did you think it meant when I said don't bother calling me? God, you're an idiot."

"It wasn't like that. Sure I like to have fun when I drink-"

"Apparently you like fun all the time."

He tried to push the door open, but Lea stopped him. 

"I don't think so. Get lost, Brandon. So lost that you never come back.

"Oh I see." Brandon had managed to push the door open just enough to spy Shaun sitting in Lea's kitchen. "You've got another guy. And he's better than me? Is that it? Well, he looks like a loser. You know what? I think I'm too good for you." Then he peered over Lea's head and called into the apartment, "Good riddance. She's all yours now, buddy!" And with a wave through the door to Shaun, he stormed off down the hall without another word.

Lea slammed the door and leaned against it. "Oh, if I wasn't so mad at that idiot, this would have almost been funny."

"Why was it funny? I didn't think it was," Shaun said.

"It's just that Brandon thinks he's so great, but he'll run off for a night with any girl who'll have him, and he thinks I'm the one who's cheating for dumping him."

Shaun merely said, "Hmm," and gave a slight nod. He felt that this came after flirting, and he hadn't mastered flirting yet. Maybe he'd have to ask Claire about it the next time he saw her, whenever that might be. If he was going to avoid Dr. Glassman and his nagging, then he wasn't going to work. He didn't know what he was going to do, but it had been a long day and Shaun didn't much want to think about it.

After he and Lea had finished the pizza and cleaned up, Shaun made up the sofa with a blanket from Lea. Lea turned off all the lights except for a lamp behind the screens as she wasn't ready to sleep yet. Lying on his back on the sofa that was just as wide as his shoulders, Shaun watched the shadows from whatever Lea was doing in the dim light that shone on the ceiling above.

Shaun hadn't quite drifted off when his phone made a noise. Sighing, he turned so he could reach it where it lay on the coffee table. There was a text from Dr. Glassman. It read "Where the hell are you?" Shaun put the phone back on the table without responding and fell asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Dr. Glassman paced up and down the conference room. If he'd had hair on the top of his head, it would have been standing on end from him running his hands across it. First thing in the morning, he had gathered Dr. Melendez, hospital attorney Jessica Preston, surgeon and board member Marcus Andrews, and chairwoman Allegra Aoki. They were all sitting around the table, silently watching the pacing hospital president.

He thought that he would have been able to find and convince Shaun to come back on his own, but Shaun was ignoring his attempts at contact. Half a dozen texts and three calls had gone unanswered. The only thing reassuring Dr. Glassman that Shaun was probably okay was that the first and third calls had gone directly to voicemail whereas the second hadn't, indicating that Shaun's phone had likely been turned off and on.

Since Shaun wasn't answering, and Dr. Glassman had no idea where he had gone, he feared that he had no choice but to tell the rest of the hospital administration. In his worried state, any lies he would have tried to tell them wouldn't have been convincing.

"No, I don't know where he went," Dr. Glassman muttered for the ump-teenth time in the ten minutes that had passed since he'd told the group what had happened even though no one else had said anything since the last time he'd said it. Actually, no one had said much of anything. None of them wanted to be the first to voice that perhaps their concerns over hiring Shaun might have been founded after all.

Finally, Allegra shoved back her chair and stood up. "Dr. Glassman," she said firmly, "I insist that you locate your doctor or he will no longer be employed here!"

Jessica spoke up, "Sit down please. I think before anyone gets fired we should find out what exactly happened, and hear what happened from Shaun as well." She eyed Dr. Glassman, who had opened his mouth to protest.

He protested anyways. "I told you what happened. Shaun got mad and hit me. But it was partially my fault because I was pushing him too much to do something he didn't want to. How many times do I have to explain this?"

"You've already told us, and repeating it isn't going to help," Dr. Andrews chimed in. "Now, who has any idea where Shaun might have gone? Or knows anyone who he might have reached out to?"

Dr. Glassman threw his hands in the air before crossing to his empty chair and crossing his arms on the back of it, leaning slightly forward and bowing his head for a moment. Then he looked up and said, "I have no idea. Unless he is heading back to his old home, but I don't know what he'd do there."

"I don't know what he does when he's not here," Dr. Melendez contributed with a shrug.

Dr. Andrews stood up from the table. "I think we've established as much as we can right now. We all have other work we need to do. The hospital isn't going to run itself. If anyone needs anything of someone else on this matter, we'll let you know."

After leaving the conference room, Dr. Glassman tracked down Claire. "Dr. Brown," he began in a quiet voice, "could I have a word?"

Nodding and furrowing her eyebrows slightly in wondering what was going on, Claire followed him to an empty corner of the ER, and Dr. Glassman partially drew the curtain shut around the empty bed next to them.

"Dr. Brown, you seem to get along best with Dr. Murphy. Where do you think he might have gone?"

"I don't know, sir. You know him better than any of us," Claire replied as her eyes grew wide. "Shaun is gone?"

"Shaun and I haven't exactly been on… good terms lately. Yesterday, we got in an argument, he- he hit me and ran out. I've tried to contact him, but he hasn't replied or returned my calls. And to be honest, I'm at a loss. I have no idea where he would have gone. That's why I came to you."

Claire thought for a moment. "His neighbor. She flirts with him, and Shaun asked me to teach him about flirting."

Dr. Glassman nodded, remembering Shaun's enthusiasm at turning flirting into a science. "What else do you know about their relationship?" he asked.

"Not much. He lent her some batteries, she was flirting with him, and I think he likes her too, although I don't think he knows it yet."

"Would you do me a favor? Go to her apartment and see if she's seen him?" Dr. Glassman held up a hand as Claire opened her mouth, assuming correctly that she was going to ask why he couldn't do it. "If she can help you find him, Shaun will be more willing to talk to you than me."

Claire nodded in understanding.

"Good. I'll give you the address." Dr. Glassman took a notepad and pen out of his pocket and quickly wrote Shaun's address. "I know you're working late tonight, but if you could stop by first thing in the morning?"

As Claire took the paper, she nodded again.

* * *

Shaun spent most of the day in Lea's apartment while she was at work. He wasn't bored, exactly, but he also didn't know what to do with so much time to himself. His stack of medical journals were certainly interesting, and he found how completely uninteresting daytime television was.

For lunch, he opened Lea's fridge. In addition to assorted condiments, there was a partial loaf of bread, some mil, a few leaves of pathetic looking lettuce, a yogurt, sliced cheese, a couple eggs, and a Chinese takeout carton.

As much as he didn't want to return to his own apartment for the slightest thing since that would be like admitting defeat and giving in to Dr. Glassman, but he really wanted something to eat and nothing in Lea's fridge looked particularly appetizing.

So, reluctantly, Shaun took his apartment key and went down the hall to his apartment, unlocked the door, and grabbed some food and returned to Lea's apartment as quickly as possible.

When Lea came home that evening, she fixed the chicken that had been in the freezer.

"Do you always eat frozen food?" Shaun asked her.

"No, and I try not to very often," Lea replied. "But I haven't made it shopping this week and I'd challenge even the best cook to make a decent meal out of the stuff that's currently in the fridge." She pointed her thumb at the refrigerator behind her.

Shaun nodded and said, "I saw it earlier. I decided that none of it was very edible. You need better grocery shopping habits, and maybe better time management, as well."

Lea halfway smiled as she nodded, and then they continued to eat.

Then Lea said, "You know, you're so much easier to get along with than Brandon ever was. If he found my fridge like it is now, he'd just rant and spend five minutes shouting in order to say the same thing that you just did in a much shorter and nicer - albeit bluntly - manner. So - and I know I've said this before, but thank you once again for being so honest with me."

Shaun smiled a little and looked down at his food.

"Hey, I've got an idea," Lea practically exclaimed.

Shaun jumped.

"Sorry. Maybe the actual idea isn't quite that exciting, but it might be a good one anyways. Let me know what you think. Here goes. What do you say if we go out for dinner sometime soon? Sort of like a date?" Then she added hastily, "Of course, it doesn't have to be a date. It can just be two friends having a meal consisting of better food than what I've currently got here. Or we don't have to do it at all, if you don't want to. But I figured that it couldn't hurt to ask." Lea paused and shrugged.

Slowly, Shaun replied, "I- I would like that."

Lea smiled. "Good. This might be the best date - or whatever you want to call it - that I've ever gone on.

"And why is that?"

"On dates, men tend to flatter women, tell them all sorts of things that the girl wants to hear. But then they never ask her on a second date. They ignore her. It's like they don't have the courage to tell her that they didn't actually like her and were just being polite. Somehow I don't think that you'd do that to a girl.

Shaun shook his head.

"So… When do you want to do it? Maybe it depends on when you decide to go back to work."

"I don't even know if I'll go back," Shaun stated. "No one but Dr. Glassman wanted me there, and now I'm not even sure if he does."

"Well, let's assume that you'll go back. And you sometimes work late." Lea shrugged and explained herself, "I stay up late. Sometimes I hear you come home. Anyways, since I don't know your schedule and you don't know your schedule, let's say tomorrow night? Unless you're planning on going back to the hospital tomorrow?"

"No, I don't think so."

"Great. It's a date, then. Or whatever you want to call it."

Smiling, Shaun repeated, "A date."


	3. Chapter 3

The following morning, Shaun sat on Lea's sofa reading a medical journal and ignoring the several new messages from Dr. Glassman, as well as one from Dr. Melendez, that had appeared on his phone over the previous twenty-four hours. Lea, on the other hand, was running frantically around the apartment. "I'm so going to be late if I can't find my other shoe," she shouted, racing from one side of the apartment to the other to check another spot where the lost shoe could be.

Then the bell rang and someone knocked on the door. "Can you get that?" Lea called to Shaun as she dug through a pile of clothes next to her bed in hopes that the shoe was underneath. "It might be the landlord. No one else would knock _and_ ring the bell this early in the morning…" she grumbled faintly as she stuck her head under the bed.

Shaun quietly mumbled something that was inaudible to Lea and continued reading.

Sighing, Lea got up from the floor and went to open the door herself. On the way, she found her missing shoe tucked in the corner next to the door. Tugging it on her foot, she mumbled, "I haven't got time for this… Yes, what do you want?" Opening the door, Lea came eye to eye with a young woman who was decidedly not the cranky, bearded landlord.

"Hi, sorry," Claire said hesitantly but with a small smile as she crumpled the slip of paper in her hand with Shaun's address written on it. "Are you Lea?"

"Yeah. And you are?" Lea replied, somewhat annoyed.

"I'm looking for Shaun Murphy. He's your neighbor. Do you know where he might be?" Claire asked, temporarily ignoring Lea's question to get to the reason for her visit as quickly as possible.

Raising an eyebrow, Lea said, "You're not like an ex or something, are you?"

Claire's eyes widened and she said quickly, "Oh no, I'm definitely not. I'm Claire Brown." She held out a hand to Lea. In one breath, she continued, "Shaun and I work together. He left rather abruptly a couple days ago and didn't show up yesterday, and no one can get ahold of him, so I'm just wondering if you know where he might be?"

Lea shook Claire's outstretched hand and then let her eyes stray slightly, back over her shoulder towards the part of the apartment where Shaun was sitting. The movement was just enough to raise Claire's suspicions, and her eyebrows went up, changing her expression. The realization in Claire's face was quickly read by Lea, who finally said as she let out a sigh, "Yeah, he's here. I think you better come in."

Standing aside and opening the door wider, Lea allowed Claire to enter. Lea added, "But if I don't leave now, I'm going to be late for work. You two do whatever you need to, and if you both leave, just lock the door behind you." And, grabbing her purse, Lea disappeared out the door.

Shaun hadn't looked up from the article he was reading. Claire stood awkwardly for a moment before she walked around the coffee table and took a seat next to Shaun. She knew that she was going to have to be the one to start the conversation. "Hey Shaun," she began. "You know, everyone at the hospital has been worried about you, especially Dr. Glassman."

"Good," Shaun replied, closing the journal, staring at the cover.

Claire's eyebrows went up. "Really? I never took you for the spiteful or revengeful type."

"Dr. Glassman was being a jerk, and he wanted me to do something I didn't want to do. He was trying to control me and I showed him that he can't do that."

"Yeah, I guess so, but just disappearing wasn't really the best way to do that, don't you think? I mean, that's how misunderstandings and fights continue. People refuse to talk to each other and get passive-aggressive instead."

"I tried to talk to him and he didn't want to listen."

Claire shrugged. "Some people are just stubborn. I guess Dr. Glassman might be one of them. Also, I think it means he cares about you. A lot. He wouldn't be so persistent if he didn't have a good reason for it. He thinks he knows best, but there's more to it than that."

Even though Claire paused, Shaun didn't say anything. He just continued looking at the medical journal on his lap.

So, Claire continued. "Both of you are acting childish. You pretended to run away and now you're refusing to talk to Dr. Glassman. He's avoiding talking to you man-to-man because he sent me here look for you instead of coming himself. Now, what do you say we go do the hospital and the two of you can try to talk maturely through whatever it is you're fighting about?"

After not moving for a few moments, Shaun closed the medical journal and nodded slowly.

"Good. Get your things. My car's outside."

It didn't take long for Shawn to grab his things. He used the extra apartment key that Lea had hanging next to her door to lock it after they'd left, and then he slid the key under the door back into the apartment. He thought about putting his duffle bag back in his apartment, but decided he wasn't entirely sure that things would get resolved and wanted a backup plan.

On the car ride, Claire chatted about the patients she had to see that day. None of them were particularly interesting - the most interesting was an appendectomy - but luckily it wasn't a long drive. Soon enough, they arrived at the hospital. Shawn followed Claire inside, backpack on his back and duffle bag in his hand.

The first person they encountered was Dr. Melendez, who seemed utterly shocked to see Claire arrive with Shaun, but nevertheless pointed them where they needed to go. "I think Dr. Glassman is in Allegra Aoki's office. Murphy, you're going to have some explaining to do. It better be convincing if you want to keep your job."

Shaun nodded sharply and continued to follow Claire through the hospital hallways to the wing with the administrative offices and conference rooms. They stopped outside the chairwoman's office. Claire gave Shaun an encouraging smile, and he knocked on the door before he entered the room.

Dr. Glassman and Ms. Aoki had been talking, but they stopped suddenly and looked up when they heard the knock and the door open. Allegra's face clearly portrayed her disapproval of Shaun's actions, and she silently looked at him, every muscle in her face tense in anger. Looking quickly from Shaun to Dr. Glassman, she shot the latter an I-told-you-so look. Dr. Glassman simply said, "Shaun." Otherwise, neither of them moved, and neither did Shaun, except to release the bag from his grasp. It fell to the floor with a dull _thrwp_. 

"I think you two have something to discuss," Allegra said curtly. "Since you're both here and I have things to do elsewhere, I'll leave you my office." Without another word, Allegra left the room. Dr. Glassman and Shaun were left standing in silence, Dr. Glassman staring at Shaun and Shaun staring at the window.

Finally, Dr. Glassman said, "It's good to see you, Shaun."


	4. Chapter 4

"Uhh... Why don't we sit down?" Dr. Glassman gestured towards a chair in front of Allegra's desk, indicating for Shaun to sit down. He took the other chair as Shaun complied with the request, dumping his backpack at his feet.

"Claire convinced me to come back," Shaun announced. "She said that you were acting childish."

Dr. Glassman wasn't surprised at being called out, but he had to add, "You know, you were also being childish, Shaun. You can't just run away from your problems. That's not how things work. Running away worked for you once, but that was different. You were a kid and it made sense. But now you're an adult and have to handle things like an adult."

Shaun met Dr. Glassman's eyes briefly. He said, "Adults don't need other people watching over them all the time."

"You're right, Shaun. And- and I should have realized that sooner." Dr. Glassman folded his hands, rested his arms on his knees, and leaned forward. "But sometimes I still can't help but think of you as a boy."

Fair enough point, they both realized.

"But I've grown up."

"Yeah. Yeah, you have. And I'm just an old man set in my ways."

"Claire did say that you're stubborn. I agree with her."

Dr. Glassman let out a throaty chuckle. "You've got me there. I won't deny that.

Shaun looked down at his hands folded in his lap and said, "Why couldn't you just be honest with me?"

"What do you mean? Honest about what, exactly?"

"Claire said that you were pushy because you care about me. You could have just said that, instead of trying to convince me that you were right and I was wrong. She said that you need to be honest with me. And you weren't, which is why I got mad." Slowly, Shaun looked up at Dr. Glassman and then around the room. Dr. Glassman let out a sigh.

"Well, I'm glad that you finally called me out on it. Like Dr. Browne said, I'm stubborn and set in my ways. But Shaun, even though I did something wrong, so did you. You can't just run off and disappear, especially when you've got a job with all the responsibilities that you have. And ignoring all my phone calls? What you did wasn't acting like a grown up or being honest any more than what I did was."

Shaun knew that Dr. Glassman was right, but he didn't want to admit it directly. Instead, he said, "We were both wrong."

"Yes, we were. And I'm sorry for thinking that I know what's best all the time." Dr. Glassman paused for a few moments, and the two of them sat in silence. Finally, he continued, "How about we make a deal? I promise that I won't be so pushy and forceful. Or at least, I'll try not to be. And if I am, I want you to call me out on it, okay?"

Nodding, Shaun said, "But if it's a deal, I would have to do something as well."

"Yes. If I promise to not be so overbearing, I'd like you to make a promise, too. Shaun, I'd like you to make a promise that you'll be honest with yourself that sometimes, there's some things that you just need a little extra help with. Maybe you don't right now and not for what I thought you needed help with, but someday you will for something. Everybody does sometimes. But you need to be honest with yourself to ask for help whenever that time does come. Okay?"

Shaun didn't move or say anything for a few long moments. The only sound in the room was the breathing of the two men.

Finally, Shaun agreed, saying, "Okay. I think I can do that."

"Good," Dr. Glassman replied. "Now, I think you should go find Dr. Melendez and get back to your job. For the time being, assume that you still have it, but we will have to talk about that later. I'm sure Allegra and Jessica will want to talk to you - and me - tomorrow."

Giving a small nod and picking up his backpack, Shaun left the office.

He didn't know what he had been expecting to happen, but he supposed that things had turned out alright so far and Dr. Glassman didn't seem too mad.

* * *

That evening, Lea and Shaun found themselves at a nice restaurant just a few blocks from their apartment building, eating spaghetti that was much better than anything in Lea's kitchen. For a while, Lea chatted about her day, the people she worked with, and how ridiculous they were. 

Shaun wasn't really paying attention to her, and it didn't take long for Lea to pick up that he was clearly thinking of something else.

"So, you went back to the hospital today," Lea finally stated.

"Yes I did." Shaun nodded slowly.

"And what happened? Did you and Dr. Glassman get things sorted out?"

Shaun played with a forkful of spaghetti. "We… talked," he began slowly. 

"And?"

"Dr. Glassman said that he was going to try to treat me like an adult."

"Well, that's good!"

"And I should tell him if he wants me to do things I don't want to in the future."

"It sounds like things worked out for you, then," Lea replied through a mouthful of noodles.

Shaun didn't say anything, but he also didn't eat and continued pushing the spaghetti around with his fork. Finally, he said, "I don't know if I still have my job."

Lea laid down her fork and leaned forward slightly. "Hey, I'm sure it will all be fine. Whatever happens tomorrow is going to happen. There's nothing you can do about it right now, so let's just enjoy the evening."

"I guess can try to do that."

They ate in silence for a few more moments. Forks clinked on plates and the din of other diners in the restaurant hummed in the background.

Smiling, Lea then said, "I know I've told you this before, but I want to say it again since it seems like an appropriate moment. You're so refreshing to hang out with and so honest. You're not full of yourself like Brandon. That man - well, he's more louse than man - has got to think that the world revolves around him. You met him the other night. But I shouldn't be talking about Brandon tonight. He's out of my life for good, with any luck. He can't keep crawling back to me. And I'm just rambling. But my point is that I really enjoy your company."

Shaun nodded slowly. "I like your company, too."

"So." Lea raised an eyebrow in a suggestive manner.

"So, what?" Shaun didn't know what she was hinting at.

"Yesterday you said that you'd decide if this was a date or not. So… Is it?"

Shaun took a deep breath. Then he abruptly asked Lea, "And what would make it a date?"

"Um, well I suppose something's a date when two people enjoy spending time together doing something - like dinner - on one occasion and they would like to do it again in the future in order to get to know each other better. Does that help?" Lea halfway shrugged, not really knowing how to define a date.

All Shaun said was a thoughtful, "Hmm," before he returned to eating his meal. Lea did likewise.

After a minute or so, Shaun looked up and stopped eating. So did Lea. Nearly meeting her eyes, Shaun said, "It's a date."


End file.
